New shipment of Covid vaccine to end troubles of overseas Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is likely to receive 2.5 million doses of Moderna’s mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine doses on Friday (tomorrow), citing sources, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Pakistan will receive a shipment of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine through COVAX — the World Health Organisation’s global shared vaccine programme on Friday.

The new shipment will end the troubles of overseas Pakistanis for getting US-made COVID-19 jabs prior to travelling abroad.

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The shipment will arrive in Islamabad which will be administered to overseas Pakistanis and people who are suffering from chronic diseases on a priority basis, sources told ARY News. The US-made Moderna vaccine is also approved by Saudi Arabia, Gulf states, Europe and the United States (US).

The Covax had also provided stocks of Pfizer-​BioNTech and Astrazeneca vaccines including 100,600 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and 1,238,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine. A shipment of 18 million doses of coronavirus vaccine had also arrived in Pakistan, sources added.

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On June 29, the United States (US) had announced to send 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to Pakistan, confirmed White House press secretary Jen Psaki. He had said the doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are being sent to Pakistan to help Islamabad in the fight against the pandemic.

Pakistan has primarily used Chinese vaccines – Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac- in its inoculation drive.